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How To Develop A Sponsorship Strategy For Your Next Corporate Event

When planning a corporate event, you need to ensure that you have a sponsorship strategy in place. Sponsors take some of the financial burden off your company, get your employees excited and can help create buzz for your product or service. If you’ve never created a sponsorship proposal, rest assured, it’s easy. Here’s how you can develop a winning strategy in four simple steps:

Step 1: What does your company have to offer?

Before you contact potential sponsors, it’s important to prepare a pitch for your company.

What does your company bring to the table? Your potential sponsors need to understand the benefit of your products or services, or the benefit of the brand or event, and the relation to their company.

What is the theme of the event? Even corporate events can have themes. If you’re throwing a themed event, you’ll need to choose sponsors accordingly. A holiday party that is being thrown in December in a cold climate won’t work if you’re trying to get sponsorship from a sunscreen company. However, that same holiday party could be a potential sponsorship opportunity for a hot chocolate company.

The answers to these questions will guide you in the right direction.

Step 2: What can you offer your sponsors?

Sponsorship is a two-way street. You need to be able to give your sponsors something in return for their sponsorship. This can be allowing their branding to be present at your corporate event, or having your employees tweet and post about their products during the event. You have to treat every sponsorship as a partnership otherwise sponsors will be less likely to want to be involved with your event. When you demonstrate your value, they’ll be more inclined sponsor your event.

Step 3: Do your research

Most companies have sponsorship guidelines that you will need to review before signing an agreement. Many companies have a set budget in place for sponsorships and aren’t keen to go over it. They’ll also have a an idea in mind of the type of companies they want to sponsor. Do your research to ensure that the companies you’re targeting for sponsorship will be a good fit for your event.

Step 4: Make contact

Once you’ve come up with a list of potential sponsors, it’s time to reach out. Your sponsorship proposal should be brief, yet effective. You’ll need to communicate exactly why you think a certain sponsor will be a good fit for your corporate event while demonstrating your value and showcasing how important this potential partnership is for both companies.

When reaching out to potential sponsors, don’t be shy. You’re essentially asking for money so it’s okay to be bold.